Extending the earlier work of Mikail et al. (1993), a confirmatory fac
tor analysis (CFA; LISREL VII) of a 4-factor model of pain assessment
was tested. This model, comprised of the Beck Depression Inventory (BD
I) and 13 subscales of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) and the Wes
t Haven-Yale Multidimensional Pain Inventory (WHYMPI), adequately acco
unted for the pain experience with minimal overlap. Subjects were 306
outpatient chronic pain patients seen at a multidisciplinary chronic p
ain clinic. Subscale scores were subjected to CFA procedures that yiel
ded a well-fitting final model that explained 91% of the covariance in
the observed data. This final model was derived through an explorator
y post-hoc procedure that allowed for correlated errors among subscale
s of the same instrument. The 4 factors were identified as Affective D
istress, Support, Pain Description, and Functional capacity. Results s
upported the hypothesis that the MPQ, WHYMPI and BDI are representativ
e of the multidimensionality of the pain experience with minimal overl
ap among measures. Theoretical and clinical implications of reducing t
he overlap among existing measures in the assessment of pain patients
are discussed.